GIGI’S PLAYHOUSE IS A SAFE PLACE WHERE OUR CHILDREN (YOUNG OR GROWN) CAN BE THEMSELVES AND PRACTICE SKILLS THEY CAN USE OUT IN THE WORLD

gross-motor programs to math tutoring and teen nights. Fargo’s center is one of only 25 GiGi’s Playhouses in the U.S. and Mexico.

“Everyone is in a different spot on this journey with Down syndrome,” said Schwengler, vice-president of the GiGi’s Playhouse Fargo board. “GiGi’s is ready for that. We will be ready to help people wherever they are on the journey.”

Pregnant families with a new diagnosis can find support from other parents. Schoolage children can get extra reading help and practice speaking in front of a group. Teens can try a drama class and adults can prepare for job interviews. Siblings can join a support group.

“GiGi’s Playhouse is a safe place where our children (young or grown) can be themselves and practice skills they can use out in the world,” said board president Kristin Nelsen of Fargo.

Nelsen first discovered GiGi’s several years ago while researching Down syndrome online, looking for information for her son Birk, now seven. GiGi’s was started in 2003 by Nancy Gianni, a mom in Illinois who wanted to change the public’s perception of people with Down syndrome while also helping people with Down syndrome – like her daughter Gigi – reach their greatest potential. The message resonated with Nelsen.

“I hope GiGi’s Playhouse shows our community that people with Down syndrome are more like everyone else than they are different,” Nelsen said.

Through the Fargo-Moorhead support group Up with Downs, Nelsen connected with Schwengler and others who eventually set the goal of opening a GiGi’s in Fargo. They had the support but needed the $100,000 required to open a center. Schwengler set to work organizing the 2013 Up with Downs Buddy Walk in Fargo with hopes of raising $21,000 (a nod to Trisomy 21, the medical name for Down syndrome). The support group dreamed of opening a GiGi’s Playhouse in five years.

They were blown away by the community’s response.

More than 2,000 people packed into the Scheels Arena for the 2013 walk. They raised $75,000. In 2014, more than 1,500 participants raised another $121,000. This fall, the walk will be renamed the

GiGi’s Playhouse Walk and Festival and continue to raise funds for ongoing programming.

“Without the support of everyone, we wouldn’t be here,” Schwengler said. “It’s not just about our kids. It’s about everybody.”

Kim Holloway of Lake Park, Minn., looks forward to how GiGi’s Playhouse programs will help her adult daughter, Laicy, 23, of Moorhead. Laicy loves to be active in her community with work, theater, sports and spending time with her friends. GiGi’s Playhouse will provide another place for her to meet more friends and get involved.

“I’m very excited and I know my daughter is too,” said Holloway, who will be helping the Fargo center with grant writing. “I applaud the group of parents that got this all going and I’m very thankful for their work.”

She wishes GiGi’s Playhouse had been available when Laicy was younger.

“The whole idea of GiGi’s Playhouse is fantastic,” Holloway said. “The free programs will take such a worry off parents’ plates.”

Schwengler and Nelsen hope for just that. They look forward to GiGi’s Playhouse-Down Syndrome Achievement Center serving the Fargo region for many years.

“GiGi’s encompasses the entire life span,” Nelsen said. “It doesn’t stop when your kids are grown. I can’t wait to see what an impact this is going to have on our surrounding area.” [AWM]